Spawn creator and toy mogul Todd McFarlane is writing a sequel to 1997's Spawn. Unlike the first film, Spawn 2 is shaping up to be lower budget indie affair. Does this mean no John Leguizamo as a demonic clown?

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At Toy Fair 2010, McFarlane told Newsarama that he had made some serious headway with the Spawn 2 script:

"I'm 80% through the script, I did my due diligence, went around Hollywood," McFarlane said, "...I listened to the pitch from all the big studios, but I just went, ‘nah, I need to make this small and tight and contained.'"

"And if we keep the budget small, they'll allow me to do all of that. [But] if you blow up the budget...and I understand that. I wouldn't hire me, either. But then I have to give it away."

As far as financing goes, McFarlane mentioned that he's in talks with several smaller studios and could see keeping the film's budget in the $10 million range. If worse came to worse, he could also envision using some of his sweet action figure duckets and finance the film himself:

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"Another option is me just financing it myself," McFarlane pointed out. "That way I can just ... I own all of it."

McFarlane doesn't have a director lined up yet, but he would willing to direct if necessary. McFarlane's previous directing experience is primarily limited to music videos, most notably Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution" and Korn's "Freak on a Leash."